Shower for Sarah

Today was the bridal shower for Sarah that Martha and I hosted. Thinking of invitations, making them, decorations with the color to match her wedding bridesmaids dresses, deciding on a menu, all came together this morning for brunch. The color was peacock and the food was egg/sausage casserole, apple biscuits (had many requests for the recipe), country & city ham rolls (thanks Martha...they were so good!), lemon cake (again, yummy Martha), chocolate chip oatmeal muffins, brie wrapped in phyllo dough (it must have been good, it was all eaten), and lots of dippers for a chocolate fountain. We gave away a few door prizes, Sarah opened gifts, and lots of fun and laughter. I would say it was enjoyed by all.

Happy 2011 Mother's Day!

Mom, 84 years old.

These have nothing to do with Mother's Day, but for my friend to see how I used these little "frogs"!

This day has turned out simply beautiful. I am sitting on the patio as I type and listening to the birds chirp makes me SO happy. Little things in life always have meant the most to me. I loved the kids running in at the end of the afternoon, bringing me a gift....yes, Becky shopped at Jared's!!!! I now own a new charm that's a bouquet of flowers. Becky said she didn't know what my yard had/didn't have, so she bought me a Pandora bouquet that will last. That works for me! Maggie said "can I help you open it nana?" So sweet. Love them!!!! The are precious. Austin & MJ have gone to visit Gigi with Clyde and Matthew had tutoring at 7:00 so that worked out for all. He usually takes all of them and they enjoy visiting GiGi.

Our crowd was large today, although we missed Becky & family, Stephanie & Ben, Britni & Cam, Beth's husband, Jimmy, and Kent's boys were with their mom. Everyone else was here. That is amazing! We had a lot of food. Four Italian/Mexican casseroles. Several salads, bread and several desserts. Mom wanted a picture of the four of us with her and we took several. I will post a few photos.

Derby Party

Ready for company....monster cookies and flowers from the yard.
I believe all the girls are in one of these pictures or the other.

Love the look of the faces as the horses get ready to load....

I love having friends that are "closer than a brother". They are the ones that you don't have to "say the right thing" around. Look a certain way to impress (it's not about me:), or do anything other than just open up your home. They come, they bring food:), sit, chat, play yard games, or just do nothing at all. Today with the weather "iffy", we were afraid to set up outside. So we pulled out the table leaf, set up the patio table, and waited to see if rain was coming or not. As it turned out, we were able to sit on the patio (half of us) and the other half sat around the TV in the FR watching pre-race festivities. Then, as they called them to the post, we all converged in the family room/kitchen area and yelled for the horse of our choice. We had a commemorative glass for the winning horse (David G.), a potted red mini rose for second, Susan W., and for third place a box of bourbon balls went to Cheryl B.

For our menu, we had pulled chicken, cole slaw, broccoli salad (Julie's signature dish), pasta salad, baked beans, chips/dip, fresh fruit, dressed eggs, cookies, and two big desserts. Yummo!

Derby Day, Mother's Day Weekend

What a stash! The gifts are so "secondary" to the love I feel when they bring you their gifts! I have been so blessed to be "hooked" up with Mrs. Harrington's 5th grade class each year. They are always just so sweet and I love them! Thanks to each and every one for every note written or gift received. I will miss these kids!

Love my co-worker next door, Beth.

This is April Sowers, with Emily & Lauren Clay. Two of the sweetest, cutest girls you will ever meet! Emily, on the left, is Austin's girlfriend!!! They met at Tots Landing and still remember each other with notes once in awhile! Lauren Clay's mom, Shannon, was actually Becky's KTip (is that the way you spell that?) teacher, mentor, and friend. She was a huge help to Bec when she started teaching Spanish. My friend, April, is so nice and fun at work. Everyone loves her.

Another Saturday rolls around and we are so happy to be eating breakfast, driving with the top down (that means rain is giving us a break!) and that CB got a clean bill of health on Tuesday! Yeah God!!! Thank you.

Today is Derby Day and we are hosting some friends. I know the rain is coming, so we may be eating on the patio or inside. Keeping our fingers crossed for it to hold off for some corn hole and eating on the lawn. We'll see!

Tomorrow my family is coming for Mother's Day. We normally have a family picnic (potluck) for dad in June and celebrate his birthday (June 25) along with Father's Day. This year, we moved it up a month. Some of our kids can't come, which really makes it hard since we do it for us to see everyone and keep in touch. However, that can't be helped. Mother asked me for a double Knock Out pink rose bush, so that is what we got her.

This past week was Teacher Appreciation Week and our PTA was again great. We had something special everyday. I will add a few photos. I cried when I read the notes my class brought to me. They were so special and sweet. I have a 5th grade room (that actually "had" me) and so they wrote of what they had learned in the years at CME.

The boys had another game on Wed. and lost. They tied the first one but lost all the others. Austin is playing on third, Matthew at shortstop at this time. They are hitting the ball well, running the bases well, actually fielding pretty good (the grounders) but catching is not going well. We'll see. They need lots of practice catching and throwing.

Cont. Super Saturday

This bush is ready to bloom.
Dogwood bloomed recently, everything else is pretty maintenance free (in this bed).

Pond is not looking clear and we need to work on it, so I won't put a photo here!

This bed is primarily lilies, but I put some annuals up front for color.

We missed Atlanta Bread Co. today so that CB could get started mulching. My brother came over to work with him and between the two, they shoveled three truck loads of mulch. They stopped long enough to go to the boys game and eat lunch at Culvers. While it is fresh, the yard looks good. I haven't planted much, but things are growing. Our grass is worse than it has ever been. Clyde has worked on it, but the brown patches are there and the seed hasn't sprouted like we hoped. The weeds sure have. Here are a few photos I took today of the backyard. I will try to keep track of the yard as the season comes and goes.

Super Saturday

Today was the first weekend day we've had for a long time that was warm and NO rain!!! Happy day. The boys had their third game at 11:30. They are on a young team, we lost a few "seasoned" players last year. There is one little girl that can play anywhere and Austin hits the ball to the outfield. Matthew has improved as well and plays infield. Today was the first day Austin fielded the ball on third and got two outs by tagging the base and one tagging the runner. He also hit in runners and made a double. So, he got the game ball. We lost (for the second time) but it was an exciting game. We needed a good first "at bat" but we didn't get the five run limit we needed. Matthew bats first, Austin (for some reason?) is down, down in the batting order. However, when he gets up, he bats in a run, so that is good. Matthew is hitting well too. We may not win many but I sure hope we do. Today, Austin said as we were leaving, "I wish we would have tied, or I wish we had won"!

Easter 2011

This made her smile at the camera....candy....and money in some of the eggs:)

Maggie is not into smiling for the camera, a phase she is going through.

Becky brought this big fruit bowl, and a dozen Caramanda cupcakes! I made green beans, brocolli casserole and a spinach salad.

When did they grow up?

GiGi (Clyde's mom in pink) and Delores in red, Martha's MIL watching from the deck.

I brought them Easter bags with some playthings, and Sarah's soon to be MIL brought them buckets filled with toys!

What is up with my internet connection? I just added a full blog of photos, comments and all and was reading it with Austin, when that message pops up "you have lost your internet connection, program closing down!" It makes me not want to try it again! Well, here goes....